The home race is always a special weekend for drivers in the motorsport world. This is also true for Carlos Sainz, who has often performed well in Barcelona, achieving some prestigious results in front of his fans.
Carlos Sainz comes to Spain after a weekend to forget in Canada, while in Monaco he managed to secure a podium finish despite an early contact that seemed to have knocked him out of the race for a brief moment. The hope is to achieve a good result in Barcelona, making up for the one missed in Montreal, where his teammate was also eliminated in Q2 before retiring from the race, just like Carlos Sainz, albeit for different reasons.
This has been a point of reflection for the Ferrari team during the two-week break between the Canadian race and the one this weekend in Barcelona, punctuated by a Pirelli test session at Mugello to help the Italian manufacturer develop the 2025 tires.
“We did our analysis because we thought we should have done better in Canada, but we missed the tire usage window or the setup. We didn’t manage it, it was a bad weekend, but in a 24-race calendar, I think there will always be races where you do better and others where you struggle more,” Carlos Sainz explained, highlighting a point also mentioned by Frederic Vasseur, namely that in such a long calendar with such close margins, the characteristics of the cars and the various tracks will lead to fluctuating performance.
“I think we’ve learned from this, and this is a more normal track, one of the first European ones after Imola. We all know the circuit, the setup, how to do the out lap from the pits, and we hope to do more and be competitive,” said the Spaniard.
Over the years, Formula 1 has become very familiar with this track, as it has long been the home of winter testing, at least before they moved to Bahrain, where higher temperatures provide more useful data for the teams. Although the cars change from year to year, having references from previous years is always a good starting point for setting up the car.
However, with time, the calendar has also changed, adding more fast but street circuits that do not feature corners like those on the Catalan track: “It used to be said that if you were fast in Barcelona, you were fast everywhere, but Formula 1 has changed a lot, because there are many more tracks like Monaco or Canada, and more street circuits that have added bumps and curbs.” – the Spaniard pointed out.
“Monaco, Singapore, Canada, Las Vegas, or Mexico, there are already many tracks that are not like Barcelona. If you have a good car in Barcelona, you will have a fast car in Silverstone, maybe in Hungary, or at Spa-Francorchamps, but a good car here doesn’t mean a good car, for example, in Baku.”
In Spain, Ferrari is expected to introduce technical updates, just like several of their rivals. The hope is that, as always, these updates can add downforce to the car, but Sainz wanted to emphasize that there is no magic wand to unlock several tenths of potential, unlike in the past.
“I hope it brings us a bit more downforce, making us faster in all parts of the circuit, in qualifying and the race. Among the improvements we are making this year, we don’t have a magic key; all the improvements are small, and we hope they add up and make a difference because the grid is tightening, especially now with the Mercedes joining the fight.”
The classic question in the conference was about Carlos Sainz’s future, which is not yet defined. As he explained a few days ago on a Spanish television program, the Spanish driver has not yet made a decision about his future, but the choice will be made soon, so as not to postpone it to the summer and add more stress.
“The latest news says that a decision will be made soon. I don’t want to wait any longer because I think we are reaching a point where it’s taking up space in my head, and I think it’s time to make a decision, and I will make it soon, hoping to have things to talk about soon,” Carlos Sainz added.
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